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Battle of MegaUpload
The Battle of MegaUpload was fought between January 19 and January 20, 2012, and can be divided into three clear phases by the events of those dark days. It was part of the Blitzkrieg stage of the First Internet War, also known as World War Three due to its global scope. Stage One: Silent Spring Why It Began After many months of justified complaint about Megaupload hosting pirated copyrighted content from various pro-copyright groups, action was taken. It was not because of the nature of the website, but from the Motion Pictures Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America, the International Intelelctual Property Alliance, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and other such big US corporate interests deciding that it and what it symbolized was too big a threat to them to allow it to continue. After the global anti-SOPA protests of January 18 pushed the House and the Senate into shelving SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act or Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act) in what this Wiki calls the First Battle of SOPA/PIPA, the corporations struck back. Megaupload was involved in illegal business, we admit, but how often have there been scandals about the movie industry? Have any of their sites been shut down over a scandal? NO! Negaupload was not only a file-sharing site, used far and wide by both saints and unsavoury characters (we would like to point out that this means it was in use by humanity, period), it was a symbol. It was a symbol that so long as the Internet still breathed data the corporations would not be able to throttle us for even more money than they are doing now. They made Megaupload into an example and flaunted its takedown in our faces. They showed off to the world that they could shut down an online file-sharing service. They also made sure the FBI has the names, addresses, and so on of everyone who's ever used Megaupload. Why did they do that? They did it so they could sue you into bankruptcy for "piracy" and then jail you as even more examples to firghten the crowds into submission. They thought the Peoples of the Free World would not dare lift a finger to stop them after Megaupload and 15 other domain names went down. Well, they got a nasty surprise as Stage 2 of the Battle of Megaupload began. Beyond Justice We recognize that the true sufferers in copyright piracy are the poor artists and programmers who spend endless days toiling away in studios and work-rooms compiling video clips, assembling video game codes, writing stories (literature is a form of art) and so on. However, we must note that they are not the ones who truly took action against Megaupload. In fact, many artists are both proud of and annoyed at being pirated a lot, since this means that they did a really good job, but didn't take enough measures to protect their work. It is their corporate overlords, who milk the earnings of the game, movie, or whatever dry into their own pockets long before any real money can reach the artists, that acted out against Megaupload, fearful that their already stretched-to-bursting pockets were going to see less cash coming in in the future thanks to the revolution known as online file-sharing technology. The video game industry acted by adjusting and creating something known as Steam, and no, it wasn't all hot air, Steam was quite successful, and proved that most people would rather play legitimately than pirate a video game. The movie and non-gaming software industry acted differently, throwing hissy fits all over the place about copyrights, worming its way into ACTA megotiations and thus interfering with international lawmaking. This, business interests intruding on international lawmaking to such a huge degree, is something that has been prohibited since ancient times, breaches in the ban were best known by the term "bribery" or other similar labels. Policy SUGGESTIONS are fine (such as a memo to the effect of "We of *blank* organization beleive that *blank* would be good for the economy because of *blank*..."), but directly sitting in and participating in negotiations? That is known as buying out the government. ACTA, SOPA, and PIPA all shared one group of traits: They were begun, and in ACTA's case concluded, essentially behind closed doors, with blockaded media coverage and few leaks until they really had to come into public sight. This is outrageous, a heinous case of corporate control over the government. Chris Dodd, CEO of the MPAA, even told the Obama administration later that they shouldn't expect more Hollywood campaign "donations" if they didn't look out for Hollywood's best interests. Of course, despite the fact that they were too backward to modernize and adapt, Hollywood wields enough clout to try to make us all bow down to it. They thought we would obey like the good little sheep they think we are. They thought they were going to forever be beyond the reach of justice. They thought wrong. Stage Two: Retribution We Struck Back The second stage of the Battle of MegaUpload began as evening fell on January 19, 2012. The activist group Anonymous had taken note of the attempt by corporate-controlled forces to make an example to the world. The activists quickly assembled a Distributed Denial of Service attack on the websites of those corporations responsible, and the governmetal agencies which the corporations had bought. It ran a web version of the Low Orbit Ion Cannon application when people clicked on the links posted in chat rooms and on Twitter. At least 30,000 people willingly joined in the mass protest against the abrupt closure of Megaupload without warning, many of these people had legitimate content or business transactions going on over Megaupload, content now lost to them as the US government refuses to release it. The corporate powers that be were also taken offline as the fury of the public, who had been taken completely by surprise at Megaupload's closure, boiled over and the corporations were buried under a sea of denial of service strikes. These same corporations had secretly helped negotiate ACTA over the past few years, and have been raking in ridiculous amounts of cash for absurdly uncreative storylines in movies since the 70s. Bad Service The US government serves the people. Apparently, it did not see the 99+% of people who are just trying to make a living, to survive and advance with the rest of mankind, as people. Instead, its departments chose to percieve the less than one percent who are trying to fill their straining pockets with even mroe money than they are already raking in by the day. This ramshackle attack took their websites down thoroughly, and it reminded them of who they really served. The US is upon last inspection a democracy, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, it is not a plutocracy (money is EVERYTHING). If things have gone from democracy to plutocracy since the last time we checked, maybe it's time for some other changes as well.. {C {C This Wiki heartily recommends blockading the media corporations by a boycott. We will not react violently unless we are first bombarded with clear and present violence. However, the corporations get their main income from the People. Should people simply refuse to buy the corporate propaganda of "you are not good enough, your stuff is shit, buy more, buy more, buy more!" then within weeks if not days the corporate overlords will be ont heir knees begging the rest of humanity for its forgiveness. However, we must not jsutify their dispute with copyright infringers, during the boycott, do not watch or download pirated media! If you REALLY need to find a hobby to pass the time of the boycott, start making or writing your own media to pass the time. Stage Three: Black Day The corporations struck back by siccing the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the nearest convenient target. Instead of targeting the cloaked (invisible) and stealthed aircrat carriers that Anonymous was akin to (sending out waves of "gnats" to sting at the corporate websites using the Low Orbit Ion Cannon application), the corporations set their sights on the tired old freighter of Megaupload, listing heavily and already dead in the water. They pounded it to dust with their naval artillery, then made their attack-dog federal agency sic the local coast guard units i.e. New Zealand Police on the four executives of Megaupload. That same day, Hong Kong customs froze all 39 million USD worth of assets Megaupload had in Hong Kong. The corporations were scared enough to be aggressive and take risks. They feared the public, as they should have, yet their greed was just insurmountable for them... Conclusion The four men arrested on that last day were arrested for various reasons, and are expecting 50 years in jail. Rape, murder and disposal of a woman in Spain got a man 20 years, for comparison. Notably, they were arrested in a country where ACTA wasn't even signed, let alone ratified, for something that wasn't a crime in that country, and extradited to the United States for persecution. New Zealand is not a US state, nor was it an ACTA signatory. The FBI was also not a private organization, but it still served the interests of the corporations ahead of the public. This is the power of the corporation today, they can arrest anyone from anywhere they like. Do you want that to be you? If you don't, then stand and be counted (even if it is by joining the Resistance), for otherwise they will wittle the Peoples of the Free World down until no one is left to stand up for us, then rule over us with an iron fist of tyranny. "This is the world we live in. And these are the hands we're given. Use them and let's start trying To make it a place worth fighting for!"